Despite only one goal in his last five matches, the Liverpool star is still the top flight's leading marksman, with 24 goals from 23 games, and there is far more to his game than just scoring.

Just as significantly, especially for his prolific Reds strike partner Daniel Sturridge, Suarez has made more goals than everybody else too.

Of Liverpool's 73 goals from 28 league games, Suarez has been involved in 34.

The 27-year-old has helped Brendan Rodgers's side become the highest-scoring team in England's top four divisions, and they have never scored as many at this stage of a season before in their 121-year history.

Those goals have turned the Reds into genuine title contenders. Only Chelsea are above them in the table.

Liverpool's prospects will be clearer after they have played their old rivals Manchester United. If the Reds are to continue to prosper, Suarez will surely have to play his part.

With the help of Ajax coach
Frank de Boer,
all-time Premier League record goalscorer
Alan Shearer,
and veteran Tottenham goalkeeper
Brad Friedel,
BBC Sport looks at why United might find it hard to keep him quiet.

Suarez the goal scorer

That personal purple patch did not last, and he has scored only two in his last seven league appearances, but he has still more than doubled his usual strike rate for the Reds.

Suarez has the most goals, shots and shots on target in the Premier League this season

Before this season, his scoring ratio of 0.49 meant he averaged a goal every two league matches. In 2013-14, that has rocketed to 1.04 - in other words, a goal every game.

With 10 games of the season left, if Suarez maintains that strike-rate, he will beat the 31-goal record held by Alan Shearer (1995-96) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2007-08) for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season.

He would also match the 34 goals that Shearer (1994-95) and Andrew Cole (1993-94) managed over a 42-game campaign.

As well as being on course to get the golden boot, Suarez can eclipse Ronaldo and Didier Drogba, who currently have the best goal-to-game ratio of any player who has scored more than 25 goals in a Premier League campaign.

Top goal-per-game ratios in Premier League

Player

Club

Season

Goals

Games

Ratio

*By players with 25 or more Premier League goals in one season.

Suarez has 24 goals from 23 games at a ratio of 1.04 goals per game

Cristiano Ronaldo

Man Utd

07-08

31

34

0.91

Didier Drogba

Chelsea

09-10

29

32

0.91

Alan Shearer

Blackburn

95-96

31

35

0.89

Andrew Cole

Newcastle

93-94

34

40

0.85

Thierry Henry

Arsenal

05-06

27

32

0.84

Kevin Phillips

Sunderland

99-00

30

36

0.83

Alan Shearer

Blackburn

94-95

34

42

0.81

Thierry Henry

Arsenal

03-04

30

37

0.81

Wayne Rooney

Man Utd

09-10

26

32

0.81

Alan Shearer

Newcastle

96-97

25

31

0.81

Suarez has not just scored the most goals. He has had more shots than any other Premier League striker this season, and has managed more on target, both by some distance.

Premier League 2013-14

Goals

Shots

Shots on target

Stats: Opta

1. Suarez (24)

1. Suarez (107)

1. Suarez (59)

2. Sturridge (18)

2. Giroud (65)

2. Aguero (35)

3. Aguero (15)

3. Rooney (62)

3. Sturridge (33)

"Suarez is having an exceptional season but I don't think his form has been a surprise," Shearer told BBC Sport. "I don't think anybody ever doubted his ability.

"But a striker cannot do it on his own. This season he is playing with better players who are creating more chances for him.

"It is also down to him feeling at home and feeling wanted by everyone.

Suarez the goal maker

Suarez has not managed figures like this since his time at Ajax, when his best campaign saw him score 35 goals in 33 league games in 2009-10.

It is easy to see why he has scored so many: individually, all of his shooting statistics have gone up, not just the one that shows he took 23 games to beat the total of 23 goals he managed in 33 matches last season.

Luis Suarez in the Premier League

Season

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

Stats: Opta

Games played

13

31

33

23

Goals

4

11

23

24

Minutes

1,102

2,556

2,955

2,064

Minutes per goal

276

232

128

86

Goals (inside box)

4

10

18

17

Goals (outside box)

0

1

5

7

Total shots

47

108

143

107

Minutes per shot

23

23

20

19.3

Shots on target

23

48

72

59

Shot conversion rate

9%

10%

16%

22.4%

Shooting accuracy

49%

44%

50%

55.1%

Assists

3

3

5

10

Chances created

25

64

90

67

Goals involved in

7

14

28

34

We are seeing an end product in other areas too. Despite his willingness to shoot from every angle, you could never call Suarez greedy.

He has menaced defences with his dribbling skills and eye for a killer pass since his arrival at Anfield but not to this level - in 2013-14, he has already contributed more assists and been involved in more goals than ever before.

In the seven league games that have followed, Sturridge, as the central striker, has hit eight goals while Liverpool as a team have scored 21.

Suarez has only scored twice, but also weighed in with five assists and created 17 chances. He has also had 31 shots.

"He can create, score with either foot and his head and score spectacular goals too," Shearer added. "It is his all-round game that makes him different to every other Premier League striker."

Suarez has formed a formidable partnership with Daniel Sturridge at Liverpool

Determination and innovation

Suarez's character is regularly criticised, but it actually has a positive effect on his performances.

His will to win is often used to explain away the less savoury aspects of his game,
including allegations of diving,
but it also fires a fierce determination to maximise his talents.

Friedel on stopping Suarez

"As a goalkeeper playing against Suarez, when my team had the ball I'd always have a little look where Suarez was and if one of my players wasn't near him, I would tell them they should be.

"When Liverpool had the ball, I always had to be prepared. He shoots a lot, and from some strange angles, so you have to expect the unexpected. That is what makes him so dangerous."

Friedel has not been beaten by Suarez in three games for Aston Villa and Tottenham.

De Boer recalls thinking Suarez had reached the peak of his powers in Amsterdam, only for the player to prove him wrong.

"I was often surprised," the former Netherlands defender said. "I still do not know exactly what he is capable of because whenever he seemed to have reached his level, he would perform even better.

"I think that is down to his mentality. When you work with him like I did, you see what he brings to training each day, and the spirit he has. He always wanted to play and give 100%, even when he had just got back from South America."

On top of his work-rate, it is Suarez's imagination that has impressed Spurs goalkeeper Friedel.

"Ronaldo was an example of how the very top players go through spells when they are unstoppable," Friedel said. "He was a player who was always coming up with something new, and exactly the same applies to Suarez now.

"You look at Suarez and the goals he has scored and some of them have been incredible, like his header from the edge of the area against West Brom in October.

"I am not sure how many other players would have taken that on. He saw something nobody else did, tried it, and it came off."

So how good is he?

Most goals after first 100 Premier League games

1. Alan Shearer

79

2. Ruud van Nistelrooy

68

=3. Andrew Cole & Fernando Torres

63

= 4. Robbie Fowler & Luis Suarez

62

5. Thierry Henry

59

It is probably a little early to compare Suarez to
Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo,
now at Real Madrid, and Barcelona's Lionel Messi as Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard did in December - albeit he was only talking about current form, and said his team-mate was
"getting close".

Yes, Suarez starred for Uruguay on a global stage, when they reached the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup, and at continental level in winning the Copa America in 2011, but he has played just 11 times in the Champions League.

"He has to show it at the highest level, and the Champions League is the next step," said De Boer. "Messi and Ronaldo have proved it a lot of years in a row. If he does that, he will be near to them."

Some claim Suarez is on course to become the Premier League's greatest ever striker, but how does his record compare to the top flight's other all-time leading scorers at the same stage?

All-time top Premier League scorers

1. Alan Shearer

260 in 441 games

2. Andrew Cole

187 in 414 games

3. Thierry Henry

175 in 258 games

4. Frank Lampard

170 in 573 games

5. Wayne Rooney

167 in 368 games

Shearer leads the way, with 79 goals from his first 100 appearances, compared with Suarez's 62.

Longevity and consistency, however, are clearly the over-riding factors in deciding who the real legends are.

And it should only take a glance at the way the goals have dried up for Suarez's predecessor as a darling of the Kop, Fernando Torres, to temper predictions of what the Uruguayan might go on to achieve.

Torres, now at Chelsea, managed 63 goals in his first 100 Premier League games for the Reds but has hit just 21 in the 104 that have followed.

What happens next?

The worst nightmare for Liverpool fans would be seeing Suarez leave in the summer, and the reality is his bumper new contract might not prevent that if the Reds again fail to qualify for the Champions League.

While a run of seven wins and two draws from their last nine games has some fans daring to dream that their 24-year wait for the title could soon be over, their first target has to be to secure a top-four or, preferably, top-three place.

Even that might not be enough to keep Suarez happy for long.

Suarez celebrates another goal in front of the Liverpool fans who adore him

"As a player, Luis wants to win titles," De Boer said. "I am looking at his situation from the outside but to me it is like Robin van Persie when he was at Arsenal.

"Van Persie had a great time there but he wanted to win things too, and he did that in his first year at Manchester United.

"It is the same with Luis. This year Liverpool are still trying to be champions and hopefully for them they can win the title and he will stay. But if they do not make the Champions League, he might have to consider what to do next."

BBC links

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